There are times even the most experienced actor struggles to
remember lines. But for Adelyn Uffelman, the 10-year-old
homeschooled student playing the young Helen Keller in
DreamWrights' production of William Gibson's "The Miracle Worker,"
that's the least of her challenges.

In part that's because Helen, who is 6 at the time of the play, has
been blind, deaf and consequently mute since infancy because of
sickness. It is only after teacher Annie Sullivan - herself
vision-impaired - reaches Helen through finger sign language and
discipline that the girl speaks a few words.

Uffelman also found Helen's tantrums "easy."

"I do that at home without even practicing," she laughs.

On the other hand, the young actor, who earlier appeared in "Sarah
Plain and Tall" at DreamWrights and in other shows at her church,
has a lot of blocking to remember. And some of the struggles
between the wild Helen and her teacher are quite physical.

"One rehearsal we practiced a fighting scene five times, and I was
beat up and tired," Uffelman admits. "Sometimes I got brush burns
or bruises, and one time I banged my head on a wooden chair.
Ouch!"

But few girls would pass over the opportunity to play the younger,
tormented self of Helen Keller, one of the country's beloved
humanitarians and advocates for the disabled.

"The Miracle Worker" is also a challenge directors like. The play
ran for nearly two years on Broadway with Anne Bancroft and Patty
Duke as Sullivan and Keller, respectively. Both actresses
reappeared in 1962 in a movie version, winning Oscars for their
performances.

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After doing backstage work and acting over the course of 35-40
shows, Tim Storey is making his directorial debut with the 1959
play, based on a teleplay by Gibson two years earlier. He's
thrilled Diane Crews, artistic director of DreamWrights, a
York-based youth and family theater, gave him the chance.

"I had taken directing classes in college and done church dramas
and one-acts, but this is my first full-length production," he
says. "I've read ‘The Miracle Worker' five times, and fell in love
with it."

One reason for that affection is that Helen's inability to speak in
words through nearly the entire play makes for rich mining of her
character's motivation.

Storey did feel some "nerves," but it was less about the play's
challenges than the auditions.

"The summer pool is usually light, because kids have so much to do,
but after the first night, my nerves backed down," he says. "We had
so many 10- to 13-year-olds, we had to do callbacks."

Storey also appreciates the help of ForSight Vision (formerly the
York County Blind Center) with the production. President Bill
Rhinesmith met with the cast for a discussion about the functioning
of blind people, and the organization also offered technical
assistant and props.

In addition, the Eastgate Sunrise Lions Club - of which Rhinesmith
is a member - is sponsoring an audio description of the play (over
special headsets) and a touch tour of the stage for blind and
low-visioned audience members at the 2:30 p.m. performance on Aug.
15.

Storey found unexpected assistance from Blythe Hart, the Annie of
the production, who has been trained in stage combat. The cast also
includes Michele Gray, Steve Brown, Trey Johnson and Chris
Endres.

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